It is clear from this year’s Davos conference that while America has shifted its attention from maintaining the world order to strengthening its domestic economics, China is making use of the “leadership vacuum” and trying to convince the world that it is qualified.

Apart from various niches of the political and academic intelligentsia, America’s relationship with China is one that continues to be largely and mutually beneficial but misunderstood, and one that is generally swept under the carpet in favor of America’s Euro-centric view of the world.

Nine years after the global financial crisis, while many economies are on the mend, anxiety lingers about the negative side of economic globalization. Populist and protectionist forces dismiss globalization as working against ordinary workers and widening economic inequality. Should globalization be blamed for all the problems facing the world? Is a reversal of globalization the way forward?

Though the international economy remains unstable, the trend of economic globalization is irresistible. In the face of populist movements, however, it is critical to demonstrate the benefits and make globalization both broader and deeper to make it fairer to developing countries and more valuable to all.

Humanity has to choose between pressing ahead with globalization and backpedaling. China’s president seized the moment to inject enthusiasm for economic globalization as it faces strong headwind from the US.

Mr. Xi brings Davos a message of pluralism, as opposed to the universalism most of his audience has preached. He is no Davos Man. But perhaps this is just what globalization needs. Before it can be restarted, it needs a reset.